So I need to further my knowledge and skill by participating in some professional education or courses. I work in a small windows environment which includes Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, 2 Hyper-V Hosts with 13 Hyper-V Virtual Machines. I am fairly new back to the IT world with 2 years at this employer and a Bachelors of Computer Science from awhile back. I have been using alot resources in the 2 years includes Internet Sources and help from another IT professional not in my office. Weak areas are really networking. Areas I would like to expand on Windows Server admin and SQL. I am the only IT person that deals on the Server Side in the office.

Opinions.

1. Should I be looking at Certifications first or some kind of professional schooling for specific topics/courses.

2. Would you recommend brick and mortar courses or do you feel Internet has enough credible resources to be used for education purposes.

Certification is intended to be a measurement of your current skills and knowledge. I'm not going to claim that it is always used that way. I used to run the SQL Server Advanced Certification program (Certified Master, Certified Architect) in Microsoft Learning, so I understand that there is a history of people cheating the lower level exams with brain dumps or merely learning what they needed to learn to pass the exam. But it is intended to measure your skills.

Therefore, learning should always come before certification. Certification alone will not get you very far in your career with the knowledge to back it up. It can be a good learning motivator for a lot of people, The proverbial carrot urging them on to continue learning.

Everybody learns differently. You can best determine how you would learn the best. I started in IT in 1999 with 0 SQL Server knowledge. In 2010, I earned my Microsoft Certified Master certification. I did not attend any in-person classes or use any of the online training resources. I learned through practical experience both on the job and in my own time.

One good method is to get a copy of Developer Edition (about $100) of your own and practice on it. There are a number of online tutorials you can use (http://www.w3schools.com/sql, http://www.sqlcourse.com/, http://www.sqlcourse2.com/). I found all of my scenarios in popular forums like SQL Server Central and Database Journal. I would try to reproduce problems others posted about and come up with my own resolution.

There are a number of high quality training videos available on www.PluralSite.com (subscription service).

There is also a lot of free training materials through SQL PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server). PASS has local user groups and online Virtual Chapters that offer free training during their monthly meetings.

Certification is intended to be a measurement of your current skills and knowledge. I'm not going to claim that it is always used that way. I used to run the SQL Server Advanced Certification program (Certified Master, Certified Architect) in Microsoft Learning, so I understand that there is a history of people cheating the lower level exams with brain dumps or merely learning what they needed to learn to pass the exam. But it is intended to measure your skills.

Therefore, learning should always come before certification. Certification alone will not get you very far in your career with the knowledge to back it up. It can be a good learning motivator for a lot of people, The proverbial carrot urging them on to continue learning.

Everybody learns differently. You can best determine how you would learn the best. I started in IT in 1999 with 0 SQL Server knowledge. In 2010, I earned my Microsoft Certified Master certification. I did not attend any in-person classes or use any of the online training resources. I learned through practical experience both on the job and in my own time.

One good method is to get a copy of Developer Edition (about $100) of your own and practice on it. There are a number of online tutorials you can use (http://www.w3schools.com/sql, http://www.sqlcourse.com/, http://www.sqlcourse2.com/). I found all of my scenarios in popular forums like SQL Server Central and Database Journal. I would try to reproduce problems others posted about and come up with my own resolution.

There are a number of high quality training videos available on www.PluralSite.com (subscription service).

There is also a lot of free training materials through SQL PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server). PASS has local user groups and online Virtual Chapters that offer free training during their monthly meetings.

As Robert notes above, everyone is different. Consider and know what works for you. Related, set a financial budget for education, and a time budget for studying, reading, and labbing. Expect 1-2 hours of learning time per day, whether that is personal time or work time is something to work out with the employer.

Microsoft already has many free online resources, such as MVA, Channel9, and TechNet virtual labs. These are all good, but may not work for a person who works best with instructor guidance—

....There is also a lot of free training materials through SQL PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server). PASS has local user groups and online Virtual Chapters that offer free training during their monthly meetings.

That is huge. Definitely join if doing anything database, and participate in local (or local-ish) events as opportunity permits—

Keep an eye on the SQL Saturday (http://www.sqlsaturday.com) website as well. The local user groups host SQL Saturday events which offer a free day of training. I think Madison had theirs recently, but there should be others not too far away from you.

Just like the other SpiceHeads said, everyone learns differently. Online training is definitely worth checking out. One of the best things about online training is that it's self-paced. One subscription can unlock access to the networking, Windows Server, and SQL training you're looking for, and more. Our Microsoft training library may be something you want to take a look at to see the full list.

The key will be to figure out the training style that will work best for you. You can check out our training with unlimited viewing access using our 7-day free trial﻿. If boosting your networking skills is on your to-do list, I'd definitely recommend looking at our Network+ course.

No matter what you decide do, the key is to never stop learning and growing!

How do you learn best? Do you like hands-on learning or are you good with just reading a book? It's great to research different training companies so you can develop a feel for all the training out there... there's a lot! Online varies a lot across the board as well. You can have a basic e-learning environment to go through powerpoints etc or all the way to live-instructors and the ability to use live-labs with advisers to make sure you are on track. Let me know what works for you and if you want to check out a KnowledgeNet free 7-day trial go for it! Good luck and don't hesitate to reach out with any questions :)